The Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda) is a treepie, native to the Indian Subcontinent and adjoining parts of Southeast Asia. It is a member of the crow family, Corvidae. It is long tailed and has loud musical calls making it very conspicuous. It is found commonly in open scrub, agricultural areas, forests as well as urban gardens. Like other Corvids it is very adaptable, omnivorous and opportunistic in feeding.
Distribution The range of this species is quite large, covering all of mainland India up to the Himalayas, Pakistan and southeasterly in a broad band into Bangladesh, Burma (Myanmar), Laos, and Thailand in open forest consisting of scrub, plantations and gardens.
Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
www.oiseaux.netis one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there
Description The sexes are alike and the main colour of the body is cinnamon with a black head and the long graduated tail is bluish grey and is tipped in black. The wing has a white patch. The only confusable species is the grey treepie which however lacks the bright rufous mantle. The bill is stout with a hooked tip.
The underparts and lower back are a warm tawny-brown to orange-brown in colour with white wing coverts and black primaries. The bill, legs and feet are black.
The widespread populations show variations and several subspecies are recognized. The nominate subspecies is found in the northeastern part of peninsular India south to Hyderabad. The desert form is paler and called pallida, vernayi of the Eastern Ghats is brighter while parvula of the Western Ghats is smaller in size.
The form in Afghanistan and Pakistan is bristoli while the form in southern Thailand is saturatior. E C Stuart Baker describes sclateri from the upper Chindwin to the Chin Hills and kinneari from souther Myanmar and northwest Thailand. The population in eastern Thailand an Indochina is sakeratensis.
Two different calls from the same bird, about 3 meters away sitting on branch of small tree. The first set of calls was when the bird was alone. The second set of calls occurred after another Rufous Treepie flew in and sat near the calling bird.
Behaviour and ecology The Rufous Treepie is an arboreal omnivore feeding almost completely in trees on fruits, seeds, invertebrates, small reptiles and the eggs and young of birds; it has also been known to take flesh from recently killed carcasses. It is an agile forager, clinging and clambering through the branches and sometimes joining mixed hunting parties along with species such as drongos and babblers.
Omnivore
noun
an animal or person that eats a variety of food of both plant and animal origin.
ORIGIN
late 19th cent.: from French, from Latin omnivorus ‘omnivorous’
It has been observed feeding on ecto-parasites of wild deer. Like many other Corvids they are known to cache food. They have been considered to be beneficial to palm cultivation in southern India due to their foraging on the grubs of the destructive weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus. They are known to feed on the fruits of Trichosanthes tricuspidata which are toxic to mammals.
The breeding season in India is April to June. The nest is built in trees and bushes and is usually a shallow platform. There are usually 3-5 eggs laid.
This species has a wide repertoire of calls, but a bob-o-link or ko-tree call is most common. A local name for this bird kotri is derived from the typical call while other names include Handi Chancha and taka chor (="coin thief").
Rufous treepie and a Spotted Dear
Pench National Park, India - February 2016
A blood parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma corvi has been described from this species and Babesia has been reported from this species. Trematode parasites, Haplorchis vagabundi, have been found in their intestines. A species of quill mite Syringophiloidus dendrocittae has been described from this species.
Regional Names Assamese - কোকলোঙা, Bengali - খয়েরি হাঁড়িচাচা, Gujarati - ખેરખટ્ટો, Hindi - महालत, Kannada - ಮಟಪಕ್ಷಿ, Malayalam - ഓലഞ്ഞാലി, Marathi - टकाचोर, Tamil - வால் காக்கை
Sighted: (Date of first photo that I could use)
7th of January 2016 Location: Gir National Park
Among others I have used Peter Ericsson's web pageBirds of ThailandThese galleries contain 668 species of the Birds of Thailand and have been of a great help to identify some of the birds as the birds in Thailand and India are, well, many of them are the same.
I have had most help from my friend, the bird pal I met at Suan Rot Fai. Sending pictures of birds I have not been able to identify to him via Line. 3 minutes later he and he have managed to identify most of the birds I have had problems with. THANKS! Visit his web pagem☥leverfor his beautiful pictures.
PLEASE! As I'm a first time birdwatcher bear in mind that some of the bird can be wrongly named. I have bought book and I confirm on the internet to get the right identity on the birds I take pictures off. But there can still be mistakes.
Rufous treepie - 7 January 2016 - Gir National Park, India
Rufous treepie - 18 January 2016 - Ranthambhore, India
Rufous treepie - 18 January 2016 - Ranthambhore, India
Rufous treepie - 18 January 2016 - Ranthambhore, India
Rufous treepie - 18 January 2016 - Ranthambhore, India
Rufous treepie - 18 January 2016 - Ranthambhore, India
Rufous treepie - 18 January 2016 - Ranthambhore, India
PLEASE! If I have made any mistakes identifying any bird, PLEASE let me know on my guestbook
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